


Artificial Intelligence

by Creepycupcakes



Category: Sanders Sides, Thomas Sanders
Genre: Other, sci fi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-30 14:37:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13953705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Creepycupcakes/pseuds/Creepycupcakes
Summary: It had always been Logan's dream to make an entirely successful droid, and finally, after many years of failing, he has finally succeeded in his task. This droids name, is Patton.





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This work is also featured on Wattpad and Tumblr!

Logan had been working his whole life to get to this point. It had been his dream to make the perfect android for as long as he could remember. Now that dream had become reality..or at least, he hoped it would. On a metal table in front of him lied a robot so realistic it could have been mistaken for a human corpse. He couldn’t wait to try to turn it on, but he knew that he still had one thing to do. It wasn’t anything big, thank god. He just needed to look over his work and the blueprints, to make sure when he turned the android on it wouldn’t malfunction.

He had tried on two other occasions to make androids, each with a different design and a different purpose, each one a failure. The first one he called R0M4N, he had been too eager to turn it on and didn’t realize he had made a mistake in the wiring, resulting in the android exploding. The explosion had practically destroyed most of his equipment, and he had received some injuries himself. Logan had to fix his lab and heal before he could attempt it again.

The second time he called V1RG1L, he hadn’t gotten as far as he did with R0M4N with this one. A virus had corrupted its coding beyond repair, he had tried to fix it but it hadn’t worked. He ended up keeping the old model though, even if he knew it would probably never work he thought if he managed to succeed the third time, then he would go back to V1RG1L to try again.

This time he had made sure he had done everything right. He was more cautious than before, checking and rechecking everything he did. He wanted..no, he needed to get this right! If he failed this time then he doubted he would continue with another android. After all, his parents had always thought that he was wasting his life away on these ‘silly projects’ as they called them. And to be honest.. Logan was starting to believe them. But he had promised himself after the second failure that he would at least try one more time.

Logan looked over the blueprints he had made one more time before setting them down on a smaller table, only to pick up his notebook. He had logged every single thing he did each day so he would be able to be absolutely sure that this went over perfectly. He flipped through the pages of the book, eventually setting that down as well. His excitement only grew with every minute he grew closer to turning the android on.

After he was done going over everything he walked back over to the table, lifting up the machine so it was as if he was sitting so he could get to the switch on the back of its neck. Logan knew he did everything he possibly could to get it right, so naturally he was hopeful that this would work. He took a deep breath before he switched on the machine.

Logan stepped back from the machine, waiting for a moment before frowning. Did something go wrong? Did he make another mistake? Those thoughts were shut down when the eyes opened. It worked! Logan couldn’t help but grin, after so many mistakes, and two complete failures he had finally got it right!

“Hello! I am P47T0N! But you can call me Patton!” The android spoke with a remarkably human voice. Logan was incredibly proud of himself, so much so that he had actually wanted to hug it. He stared it down in pure awe. He had put everything he possibly could into this machine and more. He had done everything he possibly could to make sure it would work and yet he still couldn’t believe it. “You work..” He spoke, awe filling his voice. “You actually work!”

Excitement lit up his eyes, his weak attempt to keep himself from embracing the android failing and he ended up pulling it close. The android-Patton, blinked and quickly returned the embrace. Patton was clearly confused about the situation, but definitely enjoyed it. It was understandable that it was confused, after all, it had just been created. It only took a moment for Logan to collect himself, pulling back from the hug and brushing himself off as he looked over at the confused electronic. It may seem to be running perfectly, but there was still more to do. He cleared his throat and stepped back, trying to collect his thoughts. “My apologies about that,” He spoke, “There are some tests I’m going to give you, alright? I need to make sure that you really are working fully.”

The electronic nodded, “Okay! What kinda tests?” Patton tilted his head to the side as he spoke, eyes on him. It seemed that it could mimic human emotions perfectly. Logan felt another, smaller amount of pride at that. At least he knew he got that part right.

“Well for today I plan on testing your mental skills, like your memory and intelligence.” Logan walked over to his desk, motioning for it to follow him. He waited until it was behind him before he continued, opening his computer. “I figured we would keep it simple today. You’ll be doing a memory game on my computer. Do you see the cards on the screen? Those cards will flip over to show you what they are, and they’ll stay like that for ten seconds. Then you have to match up which one matches with which. After that, then you will have less time to look the cards over.” he explained the instructions as it sat down in a chair, “Alright! I can do that!” Logan moved the computer over and pressed start.

Logan timed how long it took him to get them all right, the first time it took Patton eleven seconds to match them all up, with no mistakes. In the second round it only had eight seconds to be able to see the cards, and that time it took it twenty seconds. The time wasn’t ideal, but the lack of mistakes were good. However, the third time it only had six seconds to be able to look at the cards, it took Patton a full minute with one mistake.

Alright, so he must have made a minor mistake with some of the memory, after all, he had made Patton with the purpose of helping him with work, he had had the intention of making it so it would only be a matter of seconds before everything was solved correctly. However, it was still a minor mistake. So he convinced himself that it would be fine.

The other tests ended up pretty much the same as the first, it clearly had no problem with the easier puzzles, but the harder they got, the longer it took and more mistakes were made. By the third test, the android seemed to be getting frustrated, and it was getting late, so Logan set down the clipboard that he had been using to record the results and walked over. “Lets call it a night, shall we?” He questioned, Patton perked up at that and nodded. “Alright! That sounds good to me!”

Logan walked over to a charging cable he had set up, picking it up off the counter. “Okay then, come on. Let’s plug you in for the night.” It walked over, with a smile, hopping up onto the table. “Are we going to do more testing tomorrow?”

Logan nodded, “Yes, tomorrow I plan on testing your physical abilities.” The android hummed out a response, “Okay! It won’t take that long, will it?” He shrugged, “I don’t know for sure, but it most likely won’t take too long. Let’s plug you in for now. I’ll get you up in the morning.”

“Alright then! Night!” It spoke as Logan plugged it in, he turned around and moved back over, a small smile on his lips before he turned it off. “Good night, Patton.” He watched as the android’s body slumped forward, Logan caught him and laid him back on the table. Patton worked, it was the farthest he had ever gotten to making the perfect android. Even with the mistakes Patton had made in the testing, he was still excited with today’s work. Logan looked back into the room fondly one last time before he shut off the lights and headed down the hall to his bedroom to get some well deserved rest.


	2. Failed Outcomes

Another day, more testing. Logan sighed softly as he opened his eyes as his alarm went off, staring blankly up at his ceiling before he checked the time. He must have slept through the first time his alarm went off, as it was quite a bit later than he would ever like to admit. He rolled to his feet, going over to the dresser and quickly changing before heading to his workroom. He wanted to get to work on testing as soon as possible. Breakfast could wait.

He switched on the lights in the lab, he paused to straighten his tie before going over to the android, unplugging it before he switched it on. Logan watched as Patton’s eyes flickered open, it sat up and looked around. “Good morning, Patton.” There was still something about watching what he had worked on for so many years turning on in front of him. He doubted he would ever get used to it.

“Hi Logan!” It greeted, moving so its legs hung off the edge of the table, swinging them side to side. “How’d you sleep?” Patton questioned, it tilted its head to the side. Logan let himself lean on one of the other tables in the lab. “I slept fine, thank you.” He spoke, grabbing a clipboard and pen. Logan could feel Patton watching him as he wrote, “What are you writing?” It questioned him, hopping down off of the table.

“I’m just checking over your data from yesterday. After this I just need to get a chart setup for today’s data as well.” It looked over his shoulder to look at the chart, it at least seemed interested in the data. Which was definitely a good sign considering how it was built to help Logan with his work in the lab. “Ooh! Okay!”

“I don’t have too much space around here to do today’s testing so today you and I will be going out to a nearby park.” As soon as Logan spoke he heard a gasp, he blinked and looked up to the android, who was grinning widely. “Oh my goodness! We’re going outside?! That’s going to be so much fun!”

“Yes, I suppose so. But remember, we’re going out for testing. So you have to be focused on that for now.” Logan sighed as Patton’s smile faltered a bit. It seemed rather disappointed to hear that they were only going out for testing. “…. I suppose if you perform well then perhaps we could stay out a bit longer.” It was possible he had done a bit too well when it came to the androids emotions if he gave into it. Either way, what he said seemed to cheer it up rather quickly. It was smiling again. “Okay! I’ll do my best!”

Logan simply nodded in response, moving around his lab to grab the items they would need. He wouldn’t require much for the testing, mainly just his clipboard, pen and a stopwatch. Once he was ready he turned to Patton. “We should probably head out now, this might take a while.” While he had been getting ready, Patton had pretty much just been fidgeting, it was clearly excited about going out. It was actually rather amusing to see how excited it was over simply going outside, even if it was mainly for testing.

Logan headed out of the lab, the electronic following after him. He quickly grabbed his car keys and headed out to the driveway, unlocking the car before he climbed inside. Patton followed suit, getting inside the car and once he saw Logan buckle up, he did as well. Logan started up the car and pulled out of the driveway, once they were on the road Patton seemed to be pretty much glued to the window. Other than that it was a relatively quiet drive…that is, for the first ten minutes.

“OH MY GOODNESS LOGAN! LOOK!” Logan flinched at the loud voice, almost losing control of the vehicle due to Patton’s excited shout. He glanced over, ready to scold him when he saw what Patton had yelled about. It was just a person walking their dog. Logan was pretty sure he had programmed it to know basic things like that, so why was it freaking out so much over a dog? “It’s so cute Logan! What’s it called?” Okay..that was actually rather worrying. But maybe he just forgot to include stuff like that in the code. After all, he did forget something every now and again.

“That’s a dog, Patton. A pug to be exact. It’s really nothing to get excited over.” Logan stated, the electronic practically had his face up against the glass. “It’s absolutely adorable! I love it!” Patton grinned, once the dog was out of his sight he finally turned around to sit properly. “Listen, Patton, I know you might get..over excited about things every now and then. But If I’m driving then you can’t just yell out like that. I almost crashed the car.” Just because Logan had gotten distracted due to Patton’s question a few moments ago, doesn’t mean he would let it off the hook without at least getting told what it did wrong.

Patton sighed, frowning for a moment, “Sorry..” Logan ran a hand through his hair. “It’s fine, just don’t do that again alright?” He couldn’t help but think about that incident for the rest of the drive to the park. Had he really forgotten something that was so simple to put into the code? To be honest, while there was a part of him that wanted to believe he didn’t make such a rookie mistake, it was better than the alternative.

By the time they had pulled up to the park Patton seemed to be back to acting cheerfully, considering how the smile he normally had was back on his face. Logan got out of the car and grabbed the supplies before heading up to the trail, Patton following him. “We’re going to be doing something simple, okay? I’m going to have you run this trail here and I’m going to time you. I want you to sprint, that way I can see how fast you can go.”

Logan knew the average time for a person to run the trail was usually about ten minutes, so he expected Patton to be able to get it done in under five. “Okay,” Patton moved to go stand on the trail, “I’m ready when you are!”

Logan waited a moment before signaling Patton to go, pressing start on the stopwatch as soon as Patton started running. Logan leaned against while he waited. He let himself get enveloped by his thoughts. Hopefully he hadn’t made too many mistakes..after all, if he had forgotten to program the basic safety procedures of being in a car, and even about dogs, then who knows what else he forgot? He shook those thoughts from his head. Even if he had forgotten more, it was most likely fixable through reprogramming… But he did hope that he didn’t have to. After all, even if the android had only existed for a short period of time Logan still had to admit that he was growing on him.

Eventually it finished the lap around the track and Logan stopped the timer, checking it. It had taken Patton six minutes to complete a single lap. It was a little more than expected…he sighed, frowning for a moment and writing the time down. Patton walked over, he already looked a bit drained. “I don’t think I liked that..” So its stamina wasn’t the best either. Logan hated to admit it to himself, but he was getting afraid that the alternative was getting more and more probable.

For once he held back on telling Patton his criticisms. “I suppose I can understand that. I don’t like running much either. But your time was fine, it was six minutes exactly. The normal time for someone is-… Patton? Patton!” Logan blinked in surprise as the android just seemed to fall over, eyes going dim. He couldn’t tell himself it was just a few simple mistakes any longer.

It seemed that alternative he had tried so hard to avoid had become a reality.


	3. Lies

Logan wasted no time in picking up the limp body of the android, picking it up and carrying it back to the car. He put it in the back and started driving back to his home. Maybe if he caught it in the early stages he could stop it.

Logan pretty much ran up to his lab, laying the android down on the table, hooking him up to all sorts of wires before moving to his computer to do a scan. While he waited for it to complete he tapped his fingers repetitively over his desk, trying to get himself to calm down..but that eventually failed when the scan results came up. The virus was back.

He had been so careful to avoid this! He had done everything to make sure this wouldn’t happen! Logan groaned softly, but at least it looked like the virus hadn’t done that much damage yet. There was still a chance he could stop it. Logan ran a hand through his hair before he got to work.

Logan did everything in his power to stop the virus. But he couldn’t succeed in eliminating the virus from the android’s system completely without having to wipe away all of Patton with it. However, he was able to find a way to put a stop to it for now. Eventually, the virus would slowly start to eat away at the electronic again. Hopefully, by then he would have had been able to find a way to destroy the virus completely. If he did not manage to find a way, then he wouldn’t be able to do this again. Its needless to say that he didn’t sleep that night

It was the next morning when he had decided to try to turn Patton back on again. He unplugged it from the wires and flipped the small switch that was on the back of Patton’s neck, watching as its eyes opened and it came to life. “What happened..?”

“We had a bit of an incident at the park. It appears you must have had a virus.” Logan answered, watching as the electronics eyes widened. “I have a virus!? I’m okay now, right?” Logan didn’t know what came over him to say what he said next. “Yes Patton, you’re fine now,” Logan lied. He had absolutely no idea why he ended up lying to something that was nothing but a machine..perhaps it was growing on him. Either that or perhaps it was possible that he did too good of a job with its emotions. It seemed to let itself relax when it heard Logan’s lie, “Oh okay! That’s a relief!” 

Logan nodded, “Yes, I suppose it is. I’m relieved that you seem to be back to normal. Tell me, do you remember everything that happened yesterday?” He watched the electronic closely for its response. It seemed to think for a second, then nodded. “Yeah! I remember it! We went out and I saw a dog!”

“What about the testing? Do you remember what happened right before your systems shut off?” Of course it seemed to remember the dog first thing. “Uh..Kind of! My vision started getting wavy, and then everything went black..why? Is that bad?” Logan ran a hand through his hair. “No, not really. I was just asking to make sure your memory was still working. Sometimes things like that could damage it. It seems like you’re fine so there’s no need to worry.”

The android hummed in response before hopping off of the table and brushing its bangs out of its face. “So what are we going to do today?” Logan thought for a moment, he couldn’t continue his testing, that was for sure. It’s systems would have been too fragile. “I have no idea.” He admitted after a few moments of silence. “I was planning on continuing with testing, but after yesterday I don’t really think we should continue. I suppose there are other things I could work on today that may require your assistance though.”

“Ooh! Okay!” The android seemed happy enough to help. Little did it know that it was going to be helping Logan try to perfect something that could save Patton’s data and life.

“I’m going to start trying to get to work, can you get me the file from the top drawer? The yellow file that has a four, a seven and a zero marked on it.” He requested as he moved over to his computer, fixing his glasses and starting it up. Patton nodded and quickly moved over to the file cabinet, flipping through all of the different files before it found the one Logan needed and brought it over, handing it to him before sitting down in a chair beside him, watching what Logan was doing curiously.

“What are you doing?” It took Logan a moment to find a place to pause so he could respond to the robots question. He turned so he could look over at it, thinking quickly of something to say that would make sure that he wouldn’t startle it. “An improvement. I’m trying to create something that will help you be able to ward off viruses easier. That way we won’t have a replay of yesterday.”

“… Alright! That sounds good! I don’t want to have another one of those happen again!” Logan noted how the response seemed to be a bit delayed. But he told himself that it was simply some side effects.

Logan had ended up working late into the day, Patton helping him out here and there. It was about four in the afternoon when Logan finally gave himself a break. “I’m going to go grab something to eat,” He told the electronic. “You can stay here if you want, so long as you don’t break anything, or you could come with me. I don’t mind either way.” Patton thought for a moment. “I think I might hang out back here! Can I try to play more puzzle games?”

“Of course, Here.” Logan brought up some of the games before he stood up, stretching out. “I’ll be back in a little bit.” Patton nodded and moved to go take a seat at the computer, starting up one of the puzzle games and starting to play it…that is, until Logan left the room.

Patton had noticed the slight change in Logan’s voice when he mentioned what happened, and it had noticed it again when he had told the electronic that it was just something to ward off viruses. It had thought that it was just concern changing his tone. But Patton knew what concern was supposed to sound like. And this definitely wasn’t concern or rather, at least not all of it was.

Once it was sure he was out of the room, Patton turned it’s attention away from the computer to look through the file, scanning over the pages. Nothing really seemed all that out of the ordinary, just details about its creation and stuff like that. At least, it seemed that way until it got to the last page of the file. It’s eyes went wide and he set the file down, shock still registering in it’s system as Logan walked in. “Patton? Is everything okay?”

“Logan..am I dying?”


	4. Truth Revealed

“Logan am I dying?”

Logan froze, the android had a hurt look on its face. “Logan…” The android repeated, “Am I dying?” It took Logan a moment to process that the android had spoken again. “I-of course not, Patton.” He knew he shouldn’t lie to it, but he just didn’t think he could bear it. “Don’t lie to me… I saw my file, Logan. Please just… Just tell me the truth.”

Logan blinked, he had left out the file? That had been a careless mistake. His mother probably would have told him that this was karma for lying, but Logan knew better. He never believed in such things like that after all, it was just a stupid mistake. One that he would have to own up to, Logan sighed.

“Yes, Patton.” He reluctantly confirmed, “You are, technically, dying. You have a virus in your system that could result in your systems shutting off permanently…however, I installed a blocker that should delay the virus. Hopefully it will delay it enough so I can find a way to properly dispose of it.” Logan couldn’t help but look away from the electronics downtrodden look. It didn’t respond for a few minutes. “… Why did you lie to me?” It questioned, while it did seem afraid of the prospect of its own death, it seemed to be more disappointed in the fact that its creator had lied to it.

“I, well, I didn’t want you to worry.” Logan spoke softly, looking away from the others gaze. For some reason, he couldn’t stand to look at it. Even if it was just a robot, he couldn’t stand to see it hurt. Perhaps…perhaps Patton was more human than expected. Logan knew that he cared about it, but, before this moment he had seen it as an object, nothing more but a machine. But now he was starting to question thinking like that. “I guess I can understand that… But do you really think you can stop it?”

“Yes, yes I think I can stop it.” Logan confirmed, nodding. “Well then, I uh… I guess I should probably help then, huh?” He blinked as it stood up straight, it looked like it was trying to brush off the pain of knowing it might die so it could be able to be strong, to try to help. “Actually, you’ve already been helping. Do you remember what we were working on earlier? That was the blocker.” Logan admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. He felt really bad about lying to it. Which was just another sign that Logan was starting to think that he was wrong about thinking of Patton as being merely another electronic. “Really? Huh… Well, in that case, we should get back to work! Cause…well, Logan, I don’t want to die.”

“Yes, I suppose that we should get back to work. My apologies about lying to you…” Logan spoke softly, offering out his hand. He managed to start to hide his regret for lying fairly well. Maybe Logan was more of a machine then Patton was.

“It’s fine, Logan… Just don’t do it again okay?” Logan nodded in response. “Of course, Patton. I promise.” The android smiled widely, satisfied with his answer. It leaned back on his heels. “Alrighty then!” Patton nodded, it would take a bit before the electronic could fully trust Logan again, but it understood why its creator had lied, and it also knew that he definitely deserved a second chance. “Right…let’s get to work.”

Even if Patton was still scared at the thought of dying, it tried to push the thoughts to the side. It couldn’t just let the thoughts overtake it like that. After all, it needed to try to help Logan as much as possible if it wanted to survive. Actually, it bet that even if it didn’t have a virus, that it would still try to do the same. After all, Logan was responsible for it being able to function this long.

The pair ended up working late into the day, only stopping for breaks so Logan could get something to eat. If it was up to Logan he would have kept working, but Patton had insisted on him at least eating something small. Even if it interrupted his work, even Logan had to admit that the way the electronic seemed to care so much over his physical health was rather cute.

When Logan didn’t need it’s assistance, he had given it his phone. He had intended for Patton to play more puzzle games, or something of the sort to keep his mind working. But, however, that didn’t exactly work out. For when he ended up taking a short break he had moved over to see what Patton had been up to. Only to see that the android had ended up looking up pictures of kittens instead. It was pretty much completely captivated by the pictures too. His eyes were wide, and he was making soft cooing sounds. Logan could tell he was trying his best to be quiet.

“Oh!” Patton blinked, sitting up straight once he had realized that he was standing behind it. “Look Logan!” It grinned widely, lifting up the phone so Logan could see clearly. It was looking at a picture of a soft gray cat with a blue ribbon tied around its neck. “Isn’t it adorable?! It’s just the cutest thing!”

“Yes, Patton it is cute but..” Logans voice trailed off. He had been about to tell the android that he had given it his phone to him for puzzles, and that was it. But the look on Patton’s face seemed to stop him. It seemed that Patton had been pretty happy looking at the cats, and even happier when it had shown him the picture. “But what?” Patton tilted his head.

“… Nothing, it’s just that it is getting late, I thought that we should stop for tonight. We’ve made some progress, and we can continue tomorrow..besides, you’ve been on all day. I’m sure that you need to charge,” Logan explained. Patton nodded and offered to give his phone back. “Okay, uh…hey Logan?”

“What is it?” Logan raised a brow, the cheerful tone that he had come accustomed to had seemed to die down, showing a bit more caution. “What if…what if when I get plugged in to charge, I don’t ever get to start up again?” Logan frowned, putting a hand on it’s shoulder. “Listen, Patton, I can guarantee that will not happen. I put a blocker in, remember? And yes, while I don’t know when it will give out exactly, I do know that it would start giving off signs of the virus’s return.. So you don’t have to worry about it, alright?” Logan was far from the best when it came to providing comfort, but he figured he should at least try.

The android seemed to relax a little bit, and nodded. “Okay Logan… Uh..” Logan blinked, he thought they had resolved the problem. Maybe there was still something else it wanted. “Can I have a hug?” He was a bit thrown off by its request, and it took him a moment to respond properly but he still agreed to it. “Of course.” He hummed out, moving to put his arms around Patton. The electronic didn’t hesitate to hug him back.

After a moment, Logan cleared his throat and stepped back. “Are you feeling better?” he questioned, fixing his tie. “Yeah, thanks!” He couldn’t help but smile slightly, relieved that Patton seemed to be back to its normal self. “Anyways, let’s get you plugged in, shall we?”

Patton hummed in response, hopping up onto the table and moving so Logan would be able to plug its in without difficulty. “Okay! Good night, Logan!” It smiled as Logan moved over, grabbing the wires. “Good night, I’ll see you in the morning.” He spoke softly, before he plugged it in, watching as it’s eyes closed and it slumped over, he laid it back onto the table.

After Patton was plugged in, Logan retreated to his own room, changing into his pajamas before lying down. Only to be enveloped by his own thoughts again. Patton certainly was a remarkable machine, and Logan knew that he had grown attached to it…no, calling Patton an ‘it’ no longer seemed right to him. After all, Patton seemed to feel more than even Logan did. Besides, Logan knew he no longer thought of it as an object, so why would he continue with it? ‘He’ would suit Patton a lot better.


	5. Breaks

The two of them had been searching for a cure for several days now. Logan had been doing everything he possibly could…actually, he could have been doing more. He knew he could have. But Patton always insisted on making sure he took breaks regularly and that he actually went to bed. Logan knew that the android meant well, but it really wasn’t the time to be taking breaks. Especially since Patton’s life was at stake.

However, it was nice to have someone care about him. Even if Patton was technically a machine. Logan had been a rather lonely child, but that was just what came with being a prodigy. By the time he was nine he was in middle school, by twelve he was in highschool. As a result of that, he didn’t really have many friends. But he did have plenty of bullies. There was your stereotypical numbskull who simply wanted him to do their homeworks, then there was the ones who just didn’t have a reason, they just jumped in, And of course the ones who viewed him as an outsider, a freak. Those were the main three that bothered him. Other than those three types he had been left alone.

In middle school, while he did have problems with bullies it was never that bad since he kept his head down. The teachers didn’t bother him too much then, except for the occasional question. Since they knew how cruel kids could be. Especially if someone was different from them.

Logan could deal with the people that pushed him around, and he could deal with the verbal abuse too. What he had hated about it was the special treatment the teachers had given him. That only really became a problem in high school. Before then they hadn’t bothered with all of the ‘special treatment’ but the second he hit high school, the second teachers knew the large age difference between him and his classmates, it became annoying. Not only was constantly being asked questions annoying, but it just made him a bigger target for bullies and imbeciles who wanted him to either straight up give them the answers or to try to use him for their projects. So Logan had kept his head down, did his work, answered questions when necessary and avoided casual interactions with the teachers. That was essentially his entire high school career.

There was only one problem that followed him his entire school career, even into college. Hell, even later into his career as a scientist the problem followed. His parents. From the first moment they realized that their son was a prodigy they started pushing him. At first he didn’t mind it at all, after all, they knew what was best right? However,… The older he got, the more stuff he was forced into. He had already been in all advanced classes before he skipped a few grades, he had thought that maybe since he was so far ahead for his age maybe he could just take normal classes. But no, he had to still take advanced classes. He had to join the debate team, he had to start taking violin classes, because his parents said so.

When college had come around he had been relieved, he would finally be able to pick out what he wanted to do instead of just blindly following his parents rule. He had chosen robotics engineering. But of course his parents started pressuring him to take a different path. They wanted him to be a chemical engineer. He had finally had enough of it and he had said no. Then they started to try to guilt trip him into it, but Logan didn’t budge. Since he had decided to take a different route from what his parents had wanted, they didn’t bother trying to show up for his graduation ceremony. And he didn’t care. At least that’s what he told himself.

That’s why he couldn’t lose Patton. He was…well, he was the only person that Logan had ever truly felt close to. And he wasn’t even technically a person! While he knew that Patton was just a machine, but he wouldn’t give up hope. He would find a way…he had too.

Logan was so absorbed into his thoughts, he hadn’t realized that he was now just blankly staring at his computer screen. “Logan? Loogan! Come on, snap out of it!” Heb blinked, looking around and rubbing his temple before he noticed Patton standing by his side. “Oh… Hello Patton.” The android looked concerned, one of his hands rested on Logan’s shoulder. “Are you okay..? Your face just went completely blank for a while there… You just froze.”

“I’m fine, Patton. There’s no need to worry about me. I just got lost in thought, that’s all.” Logan sighed softly and turned to look over at the android, who had his phone in the hand that wasn’t on Logan’s shoulder. “Alright, but maybe you should take a break! At least a little one!” Patton insisted, he frowned. “I’m fine, I’ve only been working for an hour.” he ran a hand through his hair and fixed his glasses.

“Four,” Patton corrected, glancing to the clock. “You’ve been working for four hours. You need to take a break!” Logan blinked, had it been that long already? He looked at it watch. Huh… So it had been a while longer than he thought. “Alright, alright… But only a short one.” He gave in, and Patton grinned triumphantly. “Good!” Logan stood up so he could stretch out.

“So, what have you been up to Patton?” He questioned, glancing over to his phone. “Well I did the puzzle things again! But then I got bored so I started to look up videos of cute dogs! Wanna see one?” Logan nodded and Patton moved a chair over so the two could watch a quick video together. Patton had ended up choosing to show him a video of a Pomeranian struggling to walk around with little boots on. “Isn’t it adorable?” He squeaked happily, earning a nod from his creator. “Yes, I suppose it is rather cute but I want to get more work in before it gets too late.”

“But you just got on your break! Logan, you’re going to end up getting sick from working so much.” Patton frowned and moved to lean back in his chair, watching as Logan moved his own chair back to his desk, starting his work again. “Yes Patton, I know. But I can’t stop working for too long. I think I might have finally found a way to stop the virus…”

Patton understood that finding a way to stop the virus was incredibly important, he was in a life or death situation. But he also knew that he didn’t want Logan to end up hurting himself because of him. Besides, Logan said the blocker would last for a while so he should be okay to at least relax for an hour! “Logan, please! I don’t want you getting sick!” He begged with a soft frown only to receive another dismissive response. “Yes, yes I know… I won’t get sick. Just leave me alone for a while alright? I promise I’ll take a break soon. How about you go watch some TV or something? I’ll come downstairs in an hour.”

“… Okay.” Patton gave in and trudged out of the room, a dejected look on his face. He had just wanted to help, to make sure that Logan wouldn’t overwork himself. But, He told himself, Logan said he’d come down in an hour! And if he doesn’t, I can go get him! A smile came onto his features again as he thought this, deciding on watching a movie. He hummed softly and looked through a shelf of movies, eventually finding one that he thought would be cute and sitting down on the couch. Patton leaned back on the couch, getting comfortable as the title screen for Marley and Me came up. Yeah, this definitely seemed like it would be a cute movie!


	6. Comfort

Logan was pulled out of his work a few hours later by a weird sound from downstairs. He looked over to the clock to see that it had actually been around two hours. And for a few minutes he was actually pretty confused as to where Patton was. He was pulled out of it by another sound, it sounded a bit like someone was trying to cry, but they couldn’t.

That was when he remembered that he had sent Patton downstairs. And that must have meant that the sound was coming from Patton…it only took him a moment to stand up, starting downstairs quickly. What if the virus was starting to glitch out his systems again? He had thought he would have had more time! His eyes were wide with worry as he reached the living room, only to pause.

The android was curled up on the couch, a pillow pulled close to his chest. Logan frowned and quickly moved over, not noticing what was playing on the television. ‘Patton! Are you alright?” he questioned, Patton dropped the pillow automatically and moved to Logan, clinging to him. Logan awkwardly curled his arms around him. That’s when he noticed what was on the screen. “You…Oh my god. Patton, you shouldn’t have watched that.” He held back a sigh of relief. While he did feel that Patton getting so emotional over nothing more but a movie was ridiculous, he figured it was best not to bring it up and instead simply tried to bring him comfort.

Patton didn’t speak for a while after that, he stayed curled up in Logan’s arms, his hands curled into fists in his shirt. Logan was completely unsure of what to do. So he simply held him close, gently rubbing the androids back. Eventually he spoke up. “Why would anyone make a movie like that!?” He whined, burying his face into Logan’s shirt. “They killed the puppy Logan! The puppy!!”

“Yes I know they did…but they didn’t really kill him Patton, there really is no need to get this emotional.” Logan glanced down at the electronic who simply responded with more whimpering. But eventually he did look back up at him. “T-they didn’t..?” he questioned softly. Even Logan had to admit that Patton was rather cute…well, for an electronic he was.

“No, they didn’t kill the dog. It was just a movie, nothing more.” Logan moved so he could fix his glasses before he tried to stand up. But to no avail, as it seemed that Patton was absolutely determined to make it so he couldn’t stand up. “Patton, you’re fine. The dog didn’t die, now please let me get back to work.” He stated, trying once again to stand up, only for the machine to stubbornly pull him back down. “But you promised me you’d take a break!”

“I came down here to help you did I not? I would say that that counts for enough of a break.” Logan insisted, trying one last time to stand up before he gave up. “But you were only down here for like, a minute Logan! Please just relax with me? You worked for a whole extra hour you weren’t supposed to!” Patton held onto his creator as he spoke, obviously not going to give up on the matter.

Logan really hated to admit it, but Patton did have a point. So he ended up giving in to what Patton wanted, laying down on the couch. Patton still didn’t move though, he just kept clinging to him. Naturally, Logan felt incredibly awkward as he wasn’t used to physical contact. But he didn’t bother trying to move away, he didn’t even ask for Patton to let go of him. He didn’t know exactly why he just let it happen, he just did. Hell, for once he wasn’t even questioning what he was doing here. For the first time ever since he had discovered the virus in Patton’s systems he actually let himself completely relax.

He ended up just lying there with Patton in a comfortable silence for a while. He didn’t know when exactly, but he must have ended up drifting off. As when he opened his eyes again the sky was starting to darken. Logan knew he must have slept for quite some time, but he still somehow managed to feel tired. He looked down to check on Patton to see the android had pretty much curled up on top of him and was listening to his heartbeat. If Logan hadn’t made him he would have just thought that Patton was just asleep.

Logan didn’t know what he did to get his attention, but only a moment later Patton was looking up at him with a happy glint in his eyes. “Hey Logan! Did you sleep well?” He questioned, he got a simple nod in response. Logan reached up to rub where his glasses had pressed into his nose. There was a reason you always had to remove your glasses before falling asleep (besides how they might break). “Yes Patton…I slept well. Now if you excuse me, I really need to get back to work”

Logan moved to sit up, and Patton simply moved away. He was content that Logan managed to sleep for a while and that he actually took a proper break. “Okay! Don’t work too late!” He smiled widely as he watched Logan stand and stretch out. “Well I have to catch up on the work I missed out o-” He was cut off by a loud knocking at the door. The scientist frowned, wondering who could possibly be at his door at this time. Or…well, ever. Logan didn’t get visitors much at all. “I’ll be right back, Patton. Stay here.” He told him before he walked down to the door.

Patton couldn’t hear much of what was being said at first, but eventually it escalated and he could hear Logan getting more and more frustrated until eventually the sound of the door slamming shut echoed through the house. The electronic frowned, wondering what could have possibly angered Logan to the point of where he slammed the door. He watched curiously as Logan headed back over.

Logan ran a hand through his hair as he sat back down next to him, obviously stressing out and gripping so tightly onto a letter that his knuckles had turned white. “Logan? Whats wrong?” Patton questioned, the frown still present on his features as Logan looked over to him, setting the letter aside.

“Its nothing, Patton.”


	7. Fears and Determination

“Are you sure its nothing..? It really didn’t sound like it.” Patton questioned with a soft frown on his features. Logan raised his head so he could look over to him properly and fixed his glasses. “Yes, Patton It was nothing more than a disagreement. That’s all.” He insisted, a hard edge to his tone that he really didn’t mean to take on. He watched as Patton’s face seem to fall and he looked away from him. “Alright..”

There really was something wrong with him, wasn’t there? Logan could remember the days where he could easily walk past someone who seemed upset without even thinking about it. But…there was something about Patton that made him want to help him. To tell him everything that was going on. But he didn’t want to bring it up. He knew it was probably just make things harder for him. “Thank you for understanding Patton…maybe I’ll tell you another day alright?” He looked over to him and watched as the electronic nodded.

“Okay… You’d tell me if it was anything bad right?” Patton questioned softly, and Logan simply hummed in confirmation. “Yes, I would.” That was a lie. That was a terrible lie. He knew he shouldn’t lie about it. Especially with something like this. But luckily the android seemed to buy it. Patton just smiled softly. “Okay! Thanks, Logan.” The scientist had to look away for a split second, and could only hope that Patton didn’t notice. It seemed like he didn’t. “Let’s get you back to start charging okay? You’re probably starting to get fairly low on power by now.” Logan stood up, watching as Patton stood up as well. “Okay! You promise you’ll go to bed after this right?”

“Yes, I promise I will get a good amount of rest.” He answered curtly, heading back upstairs and into his lab. He walked through it to the table and Patton followed. The electronic hopped up onto the table. “Thanks Logan… Good night!” Logan couldn’t help the soft smile that came onto his features. “Good night, Patton.” He plugged the android in and leaned him back onto the table as his eyes slid closed.

Logan ended up watching him for a while in silence before he left the lab. He ran a hand through his hair as he went to the couch sitting down with his head in his hands. He just stared blankly at the floor for a while, his thoughts still going a mile a minute. He looked rather disheveled for once, with his hair messed up and a stressed out look in his eyes. Eventually he sat up and took off his tie and just set it to the side.

Now wasn’t the time to care about his appearance. He leaned back onto the couch and touched a hand to his face. He was…crying? When did he start doing that? He wiped the tears away before he grabbed the letter and read it over for the second time that day.

Logan Sanders,

We regret to inform you on the passing of your parents, Lucille and Zachary Sanders. The two seemed to have passed away around the same time last night. It looks like the two passed away without any pain if that provides any comfort. Let us know when you wish to start planning the funeral, our information is at the bottom of the letter.

From, The Green Hills Retirement Center.

Logan crumpled up the paper in his fist, dropping it to the ground. When he was younger, he had thought he would actually be a bit happy when this day came around. After all..they had tried to manipulate him his entire life, they had never even let him properly explore his own interests until he was in college. But… He wasn’t. He wasn’t happy, he wasn’t even indifferent. Instead, he felt…well, he felt sad and somehow even numb at the same time.

He couldn’t help but remember the good memories he had had with them more than the bad. Like how every single time he got an award they would take him out for a special treat. Even if it was something that he didn’t even want to compete for he still remembered that twinge of pride that always came up into his chest. Other memories seem to come and go for a while… He sniffed softly and looked up after a bit

Logan looked over to the clock and saw that he had been there for a while now…but that was when a thought hit him. He was alone. His parents had been the only family he had had left…and now they were gone. The only person he had left wasn’t even really a person, they were a machine. The only person he had left was Patton. And even he had a virus… Logan could end up losing him too.

No. Logan couldn’t lose anyone else. He wouldn’t lose anyone else. There was no way in hell he would ever lose him. Logan would find a way to save him. That was always his top priority but now…now it felt even more important than before. Logan didn’t care what got in his way, he could save Patton, he would save him. Thoughts were rushing through his mind as he stood up, his posture was stiff and he forced himself to stop crying.

Logan knew he had to get some sleep at some point… But right now he doubted he would be able to get some rest even if he wanted to. So instead he walked up the stairs to his lab, thoughts about the argument coming into his mind. Maury had been an old friend of the family, (he had done him a favor a few years ago, offering to accept the mail from the home at his house) had came over to try to drop off the letter, insisting since Logan was his son he needed to be the one to plan the funeral, and Logan had ended up telling him that he didn’t want to go to it. It was needless to say that that had spiraled into an argument. But never mind all of that. Logan had work to do, he could sleep later. He needed to work on stopping the virus.


	8. Exhaustion

Logan ended up working all throughout the night. He really didn’t mean to, but it needed to be done. He couldn’t risk wasting even a moment. He needed to get in as much work as possible. Ever since the virus showed itself by making Patton collapse in the park he had felt…off. Worried. Logan may have been able to hide it from him, but now that Patton was all he had left… He really doubted he could hide it anymore.

The scientist was pretty sure at this point he was just being fueled by grief, worry and determination. By the time Logan had raised his head to check the clock it was around eight the next morning. He sighed, resting his head in his hands and staring blankly at his computer screen. He had worked for so long….and so hard yet he had made no progress whatsoever.

He pushed himself to his feet, ignoring that dizzy feeling that always came with his exhaustion. His entire body was screaming at him to get some rest, to just go lay down and get some sleep. But he didn’t have time. Logan would need to go start up Patton soon so they could work together on finding a way to halt the virus. So instead of heading to bed (which would admittedly have been the more logical decision) he went to the bathroom, getting into the shower and trying to freshen up.

Once he was done with that he wrapped a towel around his waist before he went back to his room and got dressed, also making sure to take a moment to clean off his glasses. He needed to be sure that he would look like he had actually went to bed at some point the night before like Patton told him. Logan really didn’t want to disappoint him. So he simply combed his hair and straightened his tie before he headed down to the lab again.

Logan sighed softly, rubbing his eyes before he unplugged the charger and stepped back. He forced himself to keep his eyes open and kept a close eye on Patton. Was it just him or was he taking a while to start up? Logan frowned and watched him closely. It took an extra minute or so, but soon the electronic started up. Patton’s eyes fluttered open and he sat up. “Hiya Logan! We’re starting a little late today aren’t we?”

“Yes I suppose so, it looks like I must have slept in a bit. My apologies.” Logan shrugged, watching Patton carefully to see if he bought his little white lie. It wasn’t that bad of a lie right? After all, he was really only doing this to ensure that Patton wouldn’t worry about him. And it was just a small lie, one that was one of the few that he couldn’t see snowballing into a bigger problem at one point or another.

Luckily, Patton seemed to believe him. “Oh really? That’s great!” He hummed with a wide smile. He moved to hop off the table and straightened his shirt. “So what are we doing today?” It took Logan a minute to process that he was spoken to. He felt like his head was swimming. “Huh…?” Patton frowned, “I asked what we were doing today… Logan, are you alright? Is it because of the news you got yesterday?”

“What..? No, I’m fine, Patton. You really don’t need to worry about me.” Logan insisted and turned around to start getting some work done. However, he paused when he felt Patton’s hand on his shoulder. “Logan… You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to but please, don’t lie to me.. Are you really okay?” 

“… Yes, Patton. I’m okay.” Logan sighed, he really hated lying to Patton. But he really needed to do this, he needed to ensure that Patton wouldn’t try to stop him from doing his work. After all, he needed to stay ahead. Who knows how long Patton could have? It could only be weeks, or even days.. Logan looked back to Patton, and did his best to smile reassuringly. “… Alright, I believe you.” Patton gave in, but that worried look in his gaze didn’t go away. Logan simply nodded in response to it, turning back to his desk to shift through his notes before getting to work.

Logan was actually rather surprised that he hadn’t snapped at Patton. Actually, he had been about to but luckily he had been able to catch himself. He moved to take a seat at his desk, rubbing his temple. He had to stay awake. He couldn’t let Patton start worrying about him. But his body was screaming at him to go to sleep… Logan, against his more logical train of thought simply told himself to stop thinking about it and simply just set to work.

Logan ended up working for a few hours. He thought he had made progress a few different times, but each and every single time proved to be nothing more than a failure. Every single time he had let his hopes rise, they were pushed back down into nothingness. He had even started doubting himself. Perhaps…perhaps he couldn’t find a way to stop it. Maybe, just maybe, Logan wasn’t good enough.

No, he couldn’t afford to think like that. Not now…not after he had put so much time and effort into this…not after he had come so far. Logan had already messed up twice, there was no way in hell he would let himself mess up again. The scientist simply narrowed his eyes and forced himself to push onward. He could do this, he had to do this. That was what Logan was telling himself over and over again.

The man was practically glaring at his screen. Logan thought he could hear Patton speaking to him, but in his exhausted state he simply ended up brushing him off. Eventually, however, he had to pause. Was it just him or was all of the different colors in the room starting to blur together? Logan raised a hand to his head, the dizzy feeling he had experienced before intensifying. Maybe he needed some pain medication or something… Logan pushed himself to his feet, that swimming feeling in his head only getting worse as he moved. There was a lurching feeling in his stomach before he ended up falling over. On his way down he must have hit his head on something as halfway to the floor, everything went black.

“Logan? Logan!”


	9. Secrets

“Logan? Logan!”

That was the last thing Logan had been able to hear before his vision had went black. To him it had felt like he had just closed his eyes when he finally opened them again. He groaned softly, eyes fluttering open and looking around the room. His head was killing him. Wait…where was he? Ah…his bedroom. Patton must have moved him there after he had passed out.

Patton…where was he? A pinch of panic took hold of Logan. Something could have happened to Patton! The scientist quickly moved to sit up only to be stopped by two things. One, the pounding pain in his skull, and two, a gentle hand being pressed against his chest. “Logan don’t try to get up okay? You need to stay laying down..”

“Patton..?” Logan asked, his voice hoarse. He still wanted to sit up, but he found himself laying back down as he spoke. After all, he knew that Patton was right. He could only hope that he didn’t have a concussion…otherwise he wouldn’t be able to work. “You didn’t sleep last night, did you?” Patton questioned as Logan looked away. “I..I got caught up in my work. My apologies, Patton.” He responded quietly, closing his eyes for a moment. God, his skull was absolutely pounding.

To be honest? Logan was actually rather afraid. He had already lied to Patton before…for some reason he was afraid that he would lose his trust completely. “Still, you really shouldn’t have lied to me…but I guess I understand getting caught up in your work.” Patton spoke, a slight tone in his voice that showed both his concern for Logan, and how disappointed he was that his creator had lied to him.

Logan reached a hand up to touch his head only to feel that a bandage had been placed where he had hit his head. He must have looked confused as it was that moment when Patton spoke up. “Oh, when you hit your head you uh…you pretty much cut it open. But that’s okay! ‘Cause I checked it to make sure it wasn’t that deep before I took care of it!” Patton had frowned when he mentioned how Logan had hurt himself. But it was soon replaced by a smile again when he had spoken about how he had helped. It was clear that he was proud of himself.

Logan couldn’t help but be proud of him too. He was proud that Patton seemed to know at least some medical knowledge. He had been successful with that…it actually kind of eased his mind. After all, if he had managed to get that right, what was stopping him from saving him? While it was a small amount of hope it was still something. And right now he needed to hang onto whatever hope he could get his hands on. “Really? Well thank you, Patton.” He spoke, watching as the android’s face just seemed to light up.

“It’s no problem!” Patton grinned widely, eyes showing some pride. Logan bit back a soft chuckle before he realized something. How long had he been out for? How much time had he lost? Hopefully not much. “Patton?” He began softly, taking a moment to close his eyes. For some reason it hurt to look around the room. “How long have I been unconscious for?” After a moment of silence Logan opened his eyes once again to look over to Patton. “I uh..” The electronic seemed to be thinking on whether to tell him or not and Logan simply waited patiently for his answer. “All day..” He said quietly, fidgeting a bit with the cardigan that was wrapped round his shoulders. Logan frowned, he had been out all day!? “How long exactly is all day Patton? What time is it?”

“It’s about nine o’clock now.” Patton stated, the words came out sounding hesitant. He knew that if he told Logan how long he had been out that he would probably try to log more work in before he would let himself relax. But given the chances of him having a concussion…and even just having a head injury…he didn’t want Logan to strain his head. Patton just wanted him to at least spend the rest of the night relaxing, and maybe even tomorrow too. After all, it was for the best.

“Really? That late..? I need to get some work done today Patton.” He stated, stubbornly trying to move to sit up again. And once again Patton gently push him back down onto the bed. “No, Logan.” Patton huffed quietly, a stern tone coming into his voice. “You need to at least stay laying down. He needed to make sure that Logan got his rest. After all, he needed to make sure he stayed in good health. That meant he had to be stern, he knew that if he didn’t Logan wouldn’t listen,

Patton had thought that it definitely would have taken longer to get Logan to finally stay laying down and to get him to agree to just relaxing the rest of the night. “..Fine.” Logan gave in after a few minutes. Luckily it hadn’t taken an hour. That had been what Patton was expecting. After all, Logan was a very stubborn man. The scientist huffed and laid back onto the pillows before realizing something. “I at least need to get up to plug you in..” He stated after a moment of silence.

“No, Logan.” Patton stated, using a surprisingly serious tone. Even compared to how he had spoken before.”I can plug myself in okay? You get some rest…promise me you won’t try to do any work okay? You need to at least stay laying down for the rest of the night. You can come unplug me in the morning if you’re feeling better.” Logan seemed to think about continuing to protest before he simply nodded and sighed softly. “Alright…”  
“Good.” Patton smiled, “You get some sleep, or at least relax…I’m going to go plug myself in.” He watched as Logan nodded, “Goodnight, Patton.” He said before shifting around a bit to get more comfortable. Once Patton was sure that he was comfortable he left the room.

Patton headed back towards the lab. While he was relieved that Logan was feeling better, he was worried. He was scared that Logan was going to keep lying to him, but more important than that, Patton was absolutely terrified that Logan would discover that the electronic had his own secret.

He had first felt it a day ago, he felt like he was slowing down. Like….like he wasn’t in pristine condition anymore. Then, only a few hours later his vision seemed to flash for a moment when he had been helping Logan. Even he knew what was going on, but he was scared. He didn’t want Logan to work himself so hard, and he didn’t want anything bad to happen to either of them. So he had kept quiet about the incident. He knew exactly what was happening to him. The virus was starting to chip away at the protections that Logan had put up. It was only a matter of time until it broke through completely and…and it shut down Patton’s system completely. Permanently.

He stared blankly at the charger before shaking his head to clear it of those thoughts. He had to stay focused on helping Logan. After all, if he continued to do so then maybe they could fix it before the virus got too far into his systems. Patton knew it wouldn’t be long until Logan did a systems check and saw that this was happening. But he still couldn’t bring himself to tell him. So instead he just grabbed his cord and hopped up onto the table before carefully plugging himself in and falling back onto the table for the night.


	10. Breakthrough

Patton had noticed something recently…Well, actually it really wasn’t that recent. It was probably a week or two ago when one of his systems glitched. Logan hadn’t really noticed it he had been so enthralled by his work. Patton’s vision had flashed from normal, to red, to black. A system error. It had only been like that for a few seconds. But it still alarmed him. However, it hadn’t quite been enough for him to be able to fully figure out what was wrong.

He had properly figured it out a few days later. Logan had once again been busy, though not with work this time. This time his creator had been taking a break to eat some lunch (after Patton had forced him to.) While Logan was eating, Patton had been upstairs messing around on Logan’s phone. He had just set it down to go check on him when he twitched. Those two signs were enough for him to be able to figure out that the virus was slowly eating through the protective walls that Logan had set up.

No matter how bad the signs got, Patton made sure to try to keep it a secret. Logan was already overworking himself as it was and…well, Patton didn’t want him to worry. So he stayed quiet. He knew the day would come when Logan would find out. But, honestly? As time went on and the signs got worse, he was getting less and less sure that Logan would even have time to figure out that the virus was once again active. Patton’s systems might end up shutting down entirely before then.

At this point, Patton was sure of only one thing. He was afraid, he didn’t want to die. He knew that he wanted to spend more time with Logan. And while he did know that he should be thankful for the time he has had, and the (probably small) amount of time he will have with Logan…he couldn’t help but hope for more. To hope that he wouldn’t shut down, to hope that Logan would find a way to save him.

What was worse was that while in the beginning he had been incredibly hopeful, and how he had had complete and utter faith in Logan’s abilities..that faith was slowly dying. Logan had been working so hard, and for so long, and Patton knew he had made very little process in it. He had seen the work that the scientist had done. Countless tries and countless failures with little progress. And with his faith disappearing, fear bubbled up in place of it.

Today was a particularly bad day when it came to the virus. So far his vision had blacked out five times, and he had twitched three times. Logan had managed to see the end of one of the twitches, but Patton had easily managed to cover it up. He simply said that he was trying to stretch out a bit. Luckily, the scientist believed his lie. Logan was back at work again, despite the head wound he had suffered the day before. Patton had spoken against him working today, but Logan really was having none of it. So instead, Logan settled for working for an hour, then taking a break. Otherwise Patton probably would have carried him back to his bedroom, set him inside and locked the door. Actually, that was exactly what the android had said he would do. And Logan definitely believed him, as in the end he had agreed to it.

Patton watched over Logan as he worked as to make sure that he wouldn’t work past the hour mark. However, Patton would on occasion glance down to the phone that he was holding to do a puzzle or to look at cute videos. Eventually, when the time for Logan’s break hit, Patton turned off the phone and set it down on the table beside him before he hopped down off of it. “Break time!” He hummed with a happy grin, watching as Logan typed away. “One more minute..” He muttered. Patton huffed, knowing that one minute would probably turn into ten, and ten into twenty.

In order to avoid an argument, Patton just ended up lifting Logan from his seat to carry him downstairs. “What the!? Patton, put me down!” He huffed, struggling to get back down on the ground. “Nope~! You promised me you would take a break every hour! And if I know you, which I do, one minute doesn’t mean one minute. It means ten. Then ten turns to fifteen, then fifteen to an hour. I’m not going to let that happen.” He stated, setting the man down onto the couch.

“…Fine. But not that long of a rest okay?” He questioned stubbornly, leaning back onto the couch. “You have to stay away from your work for at least fifteen minutes!” Patton decided, obviously not going to back down from this. The electronic watched as Logan’s face fell in defeat. “Fine.” He stated with a soft sigh. Patton hummed triumphantly and moved to take a seat next to him to turn on the TV to a documentary, in hopes that it would help Logan actually enjoy his little break.

After a few minutes he looked over to see that Logan seemed pretty interested in the documentary. After all, space documentaries were always the best way to go to try to distract Logan. Patton sighed in relief and let himself relax a bit, just watching the documentary. He could see why Logan loved the stars so much. After all, they were rather beautiful. However, eventually the documentary came to an end, and Logan came to the sudden realization that he had been down there for not fifteen minutes, but two hours.

“Shit!” Logan swore, earning himself a stern look from Patton. “Sorry…I need to get back to work. I’m not taking another break for a while.” He stated, and before Patton could protest the scientist hurried his way upstairs to try to get back to work. The electronic only watched as he ran upstairs, running a hand through his hair before he moved to stand. He was feeling a bit sluggish, but he easily dismissed it. After all, he was always like that now.

Patton headed towards the stairs, planning on following Logan upstairs to try to keep an eye on him. But when he was only on the first step he had to pause. His vision was flashing again. More rapidly than it had before. Patton felt absolutely terrified as he froze on the step, his muscles going completely stiff. He could feel his gears and his springs tighten up, parts starting to work faster. If Patton had a heart, he was pretty sure that it would be beating so fast that it would have burst. The flashes just got faster and faster,and a loud sound of a siren seemed to be playing in his head. Every single part of him was working to try to move faster. And then eventually, words flashed up into Patton’s vision. Words that he had hoped to never get to see.

EMERGENCY SYSTEM SHUTDOWN.

Patton collapsed.

The virus had broken through.


	11. Saving Him

Logan was at at the lab’s door when he heard the loud thud from downstairs. Almost immediately he started assuming the worst as he rushed down the hall. A part of him was begging, pleading to anything that would listen as he pretty much ran to Patton that the android had simply knocked something over. The other part of him tried to tell him that him worrying was completely illogical. That he would still have more time. That Patton was alright.

However, that second part of him was quickly shut up once he saw the body. Patton was sprawled out at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes completely blank. Dead. The part of him that had been trying to reassure him was quickly replaced by pure and utter panic. He darted down the rest of the stairs,quickly pulling Patton into his lap. Logan pushed Patton’s hair out of the way to check the back of his neck so he could check that tiny little light that was always on to show that Patton was functioning.

The tiny light green glow was still coming from it. But that did not bring Logan any relief, as the light was starting to slowly flash on and off. He didn’t have much time. The scientist would have to think fast if he was going to save him. He picked the limp form up, holding him close to his chest as he darted back to the lab. His mind was racing, trying desperately to find a way to get more time. And after a few moments, he had an idea. But…it was risky. It could either work, and gain him a few hours of time back to try to save him, or it could just cause it to get worse, for him to lose him faster.

Logan didn’t hesitate to follow through with it. He had to take this risk. He had to try anything he possibly could to save him. He just…he didn’t think he could handle losing him. So the second he reached the table he set Patton down onto it. He grabbed the wires he would need before once again moving Patton’s hair and plugging in all the wires. He stepped back after a moment, keeping a hawk-like eye on that one miniscule flashing light. That one light was his only chance at saving him.

Logan couldn’t help the soft sigh of relief that he let out when he saw the light slowly and steadily go back to its normal state. But he couldn’t let himself relax, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he did. He needed to get to work. Earlier this morning he had come up with a theory, but he never had the time to run through it. He had to check it now, he didn’t have any time to waste.

Once he was sure that Patton would be stable for the time being he went back to his desk, sitting down at the computer and setting to work. He knew he only had a few hours until it would be too late. After all, the wires could only keep Patton going for so long. His eyes narrowed in concentration, staring intently at the screen. He could do this, he had to keep telling himself that he could do this.

“Shit!” Logan swore, running a hand through his hair. He was losing precious time and he couldn’t afford to make mistakes like he just did. He quickly started again. He was missing something, he knew that much. But the question was, what exactly was he missing? He needed to find it…he couldn’t lose Patton. He couldn’t lose the one friend, no, the one family member that he had left. He raked his mind desperately as he stared at the screen as he tried to find the one thing that he was missing. 

He thought he had came up with it on multiple occasions. But each time had proven to be nothing more than a failure. Once again he was starting to think that he was going to fail. That he was going to lose the last person he cared about…He groaned in frustration, setting his head on the table and trying to push the doubts away so he would be able to think.

It was about fifteen minutes later when he suddenly sat up. Of course! How could he have been so stupid!? It was so simple it was practically juvenile! He quickly went back to work, typing away as fast as he possibly could manage. The scientist was about halfway done when he realized something. Yes, this would stop the virus. There was no doubt about that. However, it would come with a whole new set of risks…but none of them would be fatal. So he pressed on. Fixing his work and adding new parts. The entire thing took him about an hour for him to fully complete.

He moved and grabbed one of the many cords that could connect to Patton before plugging it into him, and then plugging him into the computer. He moved to once again sit down at his computer to upload it to him. He sat back after the process started and watched, a hint of relief showing in his eyes. He had done it…thank god. He ran a hand through his hair before he froze. His eyes trained on the screen. On it was a message, an error message. He scanned it over. It said that Patton didn’t have enough room to download the cure to him.

This was an easy fix, he knew this. But… it didn’t mean he wanted to. He would have to delete something from him to be able to save him. And there was only one thing that he would be able to delete so Patton would still be able to function, and he would still be able to download the protection.

Logan took a deep breath before he quickly moved to make room for the cure. While he did hesitate a bit, he knew that what mattered was if Patton survived. It didn’t matter if Logan had to delete anything for it. He watched and felt his muscles relax a bit as it loaded, and finally, finally the one word he had wanted to see for what felt like forever popped up onto the screen.

VIRUS DELETED

He smiled, leaning back into his chair and letting himself relax for a moment. While he wanted to turn Patton on now he knew he shouldn’t. Patton’s systems still needed to update properly. So instead, he simply walked back to his room and laid down in bed for the night. And for the first night ever since he had discovered the virus, he slept peacefully throughout the night.

The next day he would out of bed earlier than normal. Patton’s systems should be done updating by now. He really couldn’t wait to unplug the android. He couldn’t help the smile that spread across his features as he headed down the hall and to the lab, Finally, they would be able to get to work on future projects together. He went inside the lab and unplugged the android, starting him up before he stepped back to watch him as he booted up, unable to stop the sad look that came into his eyes. He knew that what he had to delete would have done. And while it would be upsetting…but, Logan also knew that everything would be alright in the end. He watched quietly as the robot started up before he sat up straight, a confused look on his face before he turned to him.

“Hello! I am P4770N! But you can call me Patton! Whats your name?”

“Logan, my name is Logan.”


End file.
